Ehlers stated that “with a total of €10 billion, the European Innovation Council (EIC) is supposed to be Europe’s Innovation Flagship. However, the Commission is running it into the ground due to political infights, even worse it is killing the idea behind the EIC by making it a static and bureaucratic instrument run by the European Investment Bank (EIB).”
Already since last summer, 102 European Deep Tech champions are experiencing delays in receiving their funding. Last year the EIC discovered that they are not experienced enough in managing the private equity offered by the programme and handed it over to the experienced European Investment Bank (EIB).
The potential risks attached to the EC buying shares in companies and managing private investments require a complete restructuring of the EIC fund, eventually even the use of external private fund managers. This is causing heavy disputes and disagreements between EC directorates and bodies.
A plenary vote in September will finally decide if the EIC Accelerator programme will be implemented in 2023 or not. This will depend on the Commission’s ability to settle its internal disputes about the management of the instrument in the future.
